Students, residents and faculty of Athens had the chance to expand past the geographical bounds of Athens last night without leaving Gordy Hall.
Twenty-two countries and cultures were represented through the fourth annual Around the World in Gordy Hall, an event that was part of Ohio University's International Week. Sponsored mostly by the Office of Education Abroad, the event showcases the different cultures of each country through music, food, photography, videos and language-based activities.
Countries and cultures ranging from the United Kingdom to Southeast Asia were presented as well as cultural presentations from three countries. Students performed classical dance from India called Indusharma and folk and rock songs from Chile were performed, as well as a Brazilian martial arts.
Lauren Brown, a senior public relations and Spanish major, said the countries either were presented by education abroad students or OU international students.
It's a chance for study abroad students to share their experiences and pictures from other countries. On the flipside
it's a chance for international students to share things from home Brown said. But if someone wants to represent another country they can.
Upon entering the event, each attendee was given a passport with each country on it. From there, attendees had the chance to get their countries on the passport stamped by visiting each country and performing a language-based task. Once the passport was filled, it was entered into a drawing for a monetary prize equal to that of a real passport. The main idea was for the winner to trade in their fake passport for a real one, Brown said.
OU students and faculty were invited to the event, as well as area high school students and residents of Athens. Noelle Mash, a second grade student of Alexander Elementary School, has been coming to the event ever since it began four years ago and said it is lots and lots of fun.
My favorite part was the Japan room because they had origami
and it was really cool
Mash said.
Connie Perdreau, OU Director of Education Abroad, said one of the main benefits of the event was the chance for students to shop around for different languages to take or countries to study abroad in. She also said students may have come to the event to sample the flavors of different cultures without having to leave Gordy Hall.
This is a celebration of the spirit of internationalism
Perdreau said.
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